The Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle in Dictyostelium discoideum

Some aspects of tricarboxylic acid-cycle activity during differentiation and aging in Dictyostelium discoideum were examined. The concentrations of glutamate, aspartate, alanine, citrate, 2-oxoglutarate, succinate, fumarate, malate, oxaloacetate, pyruvate and acetyl-CoA were determined at four stages over the course of differentiation. The rate of 02 utilization was also determined over differentiation. In addition, experiments are described in which the specific radioactivities of citrate, 2-oxoglutarate, succinate, fumarate and malate were determined during a 30min labelling of cells from the preculmination stage of development with [14C]glutamate, ["4C]aspartate or ["4C]alanine. A similar experiment was also performed with cells from the aggregation stage of development using ['4C]glutamate.